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Winter is Coming! So is Season 3 of Game of Thrones!

I can’t believe we’re already talking about the third season for HBO’s “Game of Thrones”. It seems like just yesterday we were all giddy with anticipation for the start of the series, way back when Bran could walk and Eddard could wear a hat.

As season three approaches, The Seven Kingdoms are still at war, new alliances are being formed and new characters are about to come onto the scene, which of course means new cast members have been added. The talented multinational cast is led by Peter Dinklage and Lena Headey and includes Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Michelle Fairley, Aiden Gillen, Iain Glen, Richard Madden, Charles Dance, Natalie Dormer, Jack Gleeson, Kit Harrington, James Cosmo, Rose Leslie, Liam Cunningham, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Maisie Williams, Sophie Turner, Stephan Dillane, Carice van Houten, Jerome Flynn, Oona Chaplin and Gwendoline Christie. Phew!

This season will be, appropriately enough, based on the third book in George R. R. Martin’s “Fire and Ice” series, “A Storm of Swords”. I think that title gives us a huge clue as to what we can expect for the upcoming ten episodes. I don’t know about you, but I’m nearly doing the poodle dance with the thought of more adventures in the Seven Kingdoms.

The Dothraki are finally crossing the narrow sea to Westeros with Dani and her dragons in tow! Who or what will feel the lick of their flaming tongues first?! What of Robb Stark and his army and his ill-fated love Talisa Maegyr? Will he forgive his mother, Catelyn? Speaking of ill-fated loves, what of Jon Snow and Ygritte? Ooo and I can’t wait to meet the King Beyond the Wall, Mance Rayder! Bring on Tyrion! How will he change after he’s nearly had his face cleaved in two? What horrors await little Arya? Will she ever make it back to Winterfell? And what of Sansa? How will she fare now that the despicable Joffrey has tossed her aside for the scheming Margaery Tyrell. Will Joffrey ever get his comeuppance?? Oh the humanity!
The trailer below is called the “extended” version, but it is such a tease! While it does manage to give us glimpses all of the main players, most of whom get a memorable, if not downright ominous, line in the voice-over, if you’re as anxious as I am, it will leave you willing the quick passage of the next few weeks all the more!

“It’s been a long time my old friend.” – Lord Varys

“Death is coming for everyone and everything…the darkness that swallows the dawn.” – Melisandre

“The Night is dark and full of terror.” –Tyrion Lannister

“You’re not half as clever as you think you are.” –Cersei Lannister

“Still makes me more clever than you.” –Tyrion Lannister

“Show them how it feels to lose what they love” – Catelyn Stark

“I’m going to light the biggest fire the North has ever seen!” – Mance Rayder

“Everyone is mine to torment.” –Joffrey Baratheon

“There’s a beast in every man and it stirs when you put a sword in his hand” – Ser Jorah Mormont

“I want to fight for the side that fights for the living. Did I come to the right place?” –Jon Snow

“The revenge you want will be yours in time.” – Lord Varys

Check out the new character posters (They’re clickable). The Starks and the Lannisters (and one lone Targaryen) look decidedly more world-weary than they did at the start of season one that’s for sure (especially Tyrion and Arya). We’ll all be able to see the new season of HBO’s award-winning epic starting Sunday, March 31 in the US and 1st April on Sky Atlantic in the UK.